


Black Dawn

by ThatKanraGirl



Category: Final Fantasy XV
Genre: Angst, M/M, set around episode prompto
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-29
Updated: 2017-08-29
Packaged: 2018-12-21 11:15:11
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,673
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11942994
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ThatKanraGirl/pseuds/ThatKanraGirl
Summary: One day, Prompto hopes he'll wake up, and Noctis will really be there. He hopes even more that it will really be Noctis at all.





	Black Dawn

**Author's Note:**

> Originally a submission for a First Sentence Drabble on Tumblr. Cross-posted here now. 
> 
> ...grab tissues.

"I thought...I thought you loved me..." Noctis choked out, staring into the barrel of the gun, the finger on the trigger. The gun shook, and Prompto heaved a sob, but he had to do this in order for the nightmare to end, because this is exactly what it had to be. In no reality was it possible for the world to be this cruel. All he had to do was pull the trigger and he would wake up. That’s how this game worked.

“Oh, Noct, I do.”

_Bang._

Noctis’s body fell limp in the snow, and Prompto bit his lips, futilely holding back tears. How many times had he shot him now, but still he cried. There was no way to ever get used to seeing the love of his life bleed out, or fall to his death, or kiss him until he was too weak to stop his hands from choking him. This torture never ended.

When would he ever find the real Noctis?

Snow crunched beneath his boots and he knelt down, wiping the bangs from his dead eyes and tracing that forever familiar jawline. He distantly wondered if when he found the real Noctis he would be able to tell; he had fallen into the trap before, of thinking he had finally found him, but every time it was just another mirage. Standing again, he shouldered his gun.

“Ardyn!” Prompto shouted into the chill wind, “You won’t win this! I will find him!”

Silence greeted him initially, then, just like the wind, Ardyn’s voice brushed against the shell of his ear, cold and harsh.

“You’re getting better at this, my dear Prompto. Very well. Onto the next one. Who knows? It might really be him this time.”

His very voice made Prompto’s skin crawl, but he wouldn’t give up. Not now. He had been at this for so long that he had started carving into his arm how many times he had killed Noctis Lucis Caelum. Rolling his eyes, he pulled his sleeve up and flicked the blade of his pocket knife out.

“Whatever. Just do it already,” he scoffed and etched another tick in his forearm.

**Twenty-three.**

Prompto was used to the magic that Ardyn had used on him by now to transport him from reality to reality, or, as he referred to it, from nightmare to nightmare. He couldn’t be sure what was real anymore, but Prompto held onto the faith that he would know his Noctis when he found him.

And he  _was_  going to find him.

Sleep overcame him and he collapsed beside Not Noctis’s corpse. Even if it wasn’t truly his prince, he had made it a habit of making him the last thing he saw before he left in search for his real love once more.

When he woke again he was someplace new. Tropical sunshine beat down on him and he quickly shed the coat he wore. There was a familiar laugh behind him, and Prompto turned. Noctis smiled back at him with a tilt to his head as he reached out and twirled a finger into his hair.

“Noct?”

Noctis stepped closer and brushed noses with him before they kissed. It was always bittersweet, knowing that he might not be kissing his Noctis, but he always hoped that it was. This Noctis was forward, it seemed, and didn’t want much from him in the ways of talking as he quickly slid his hands up his tank top. Just as hastily Prompto pushed him away, and Noctis smirked.

“You’ve got to be kidding me. Are you even fucking trying anymore, Ardyn?” Prompto growled and whipped his pistol out from the holster on his leg.

_Bang._

“…too easy,” he uttered tiredly, sheathing his gun and pulling out his pocket knife once more.

**Twenty-four.**

Prompto crawled out of the cave and pulled himself next to Noctis’s body. It had taken him a while to find this one, but he managed it after some time. This Noctis was a treasure hunter, the finest in the land, he claimed, but not even jewels bigger than his eyes and sneaky kisses had fooled Prompto.

**Forty-seven.**

He was growing bored. It was always the same, but the details were slightly different. He found Noctis. Sometimes he’d give him chase and they’d talk like they hadn’t talked in years. Sometimes it felt right, but most times it just left him emptier than he thought he was physically, mentally, and emotionally capable of.

_Bang._

Even Ardyn had progressively sounded like he was tiring of his own mind tricks as he whisked him away from one augmented reality to the next.

**Sixty-five.**

This one had been convincing. Noctis knew just what to say, how to hold him, knew all there was to know about their past. Their kisses were hot but sweet, and Prompto had even cried to him about how much he had been through, how long it had felt like they were apart. Noctis just held him and reassured him that it was really him this time, bum leg and all.

Three years. For three years Ardyn had him fooled, and because he had believed for so long, each sequential time after would only seem more and more real. How stupid could he had been to realize so late into the game that he was feeding him information to make it harder on him all along?

Prompto watched as Noctis slept soundly in their bed in Lestallum. It hadn’t been much, but they had made a home of their little apartment, gotten jobs, reestablished themselves in society. For a brief moment, as he held his gun in his hand for the first time in over one thousand days, he wondered if he should give up. Things were nice like this, even if this Noctis wasn’t the real one. He could live with him not remembering something as simple as their first real date. It was so long ago, but it had meant the world to them, at least, it had to Prompto, and it was true that even though they had been out on “dates” before, they hadn’t done something so formally together until final year of school.

Was giving this up worth one date? He would have to start all over again if he did. Tears slid down his cheeks and he gripped the gun tightly.

“Prompto?”

The blond jumped, but he kept his hands steady, finger on the trigger. Noctis sat up and put his hands up, shaking his head slowly.

“No…Prompto, please.”

“I wanted you to be him,” Prompto choked. “More than anything, I wanted this to be over.”

“It is! Prompto, you have to believe me…!”

“What day was the wedding?!” Saliva felt like knives as Prompto swallowed thickly, lip trembling. “We set a date, just in case we ever made it back to Insomnia. What day was it?”

The reply was too quick, and Prompto’s heart shattered. It was his last-ditch effort, and he had wasted it on a fake.

“We didn’t set a date.”

_Bang._

**Ninety-nine.**

This time when Prompto woke it, things were different. He knew exactly where he was; he would know it anywhere.

Noctis’s apartment. Insomnia.

He took several tentative steps in. Everything was dusty and slightly misplaced, but it was still almost just as they left it when they began this road trip. His heart pounded in his chest, still able to hear the memories they made here together playing back to him like a beat up, well-loved record.

“I am sorry, Prompto.”

Prompto’s eyes shot and up and whipped his pistol out on reflex, aiming straight at Ardyn’s head. Anger flared up in his features and he grit his teeth.

“It’s a little late for that.”

“Oh, you don’t know how right you are,” Ardyn cooed, then blinked, looking away. “However, the sentiment remains the same.” Prompto faltered.

“I tried to keep you from this for as long as I could.”

“Keep me from what?” Prompto growled. “Noctis? Because you’ve done a damn good job of that! Where is he?!”

“It seems your prince went off the deep end looking for you. I couldn’t very well lose both of my favorite toys, so I tried to keep you entertained.”

A cold chill settled in Prompto’s bones and he nearly dropped his gun as shook his head in disbelief. All this time he had been chasing Noctis, and he wasn’t even really there to chase.

“You’re lying. YOU’RE LYING!” Prompto screeched and fell to his knees. “I’ll do anything! Just bring me back to Noctis! Please!”

“Ah,” Ardyn sighed, and knelt before him, “I tried to give you everything I could with that last reality. I really thought I had nailed it that time. It seems as though that wasn’t good enough for you, though, and I’m all spent out of realities.”

Prompto’s stomach lurched, tears streaming hot down his cheeks as he tried to find words, breath, anything. Noctis was gone, but he could still recall the scent of him on his pillows, the feel of his lips on his skin…this wasn’t real. Noctis had to be here somewhere.

“I brought you here because it felt like this was where the two of you were the happiest.” Ardyn frowned, solemn as sobs tore through the blond. There was a piercing scream that shook him, formed from pure agony.

“Kill me, Ardyn! Just end this already! Let me be with him!”

Prompto distantly heard the scrape of his gun being picked up from the floor, followed by Noctis’s voice.

“What was the date?” he asked, as raised the gun. It was a sick twist of fate, how he had been killing Noctis after Noctis after Noctis for so long, only to be staring down the barrel of his own gun, Noctis’s finger on the trigger. Prompto closed his eyes for a moment, preparing himself, then stared into his eyes one last time.

“...September 27th,” he uttered finally, and Noctis’s face twisted with emotion.

“Happy Anniversary, Prompto.”

_Bang._


End file.
